[OSM-legal-talk] Regarding future Contributor Terms "upgrades"

[Mike Collinson]

The License Working Group had a request from a contributor to make a statement to the effect that users who sign up to v1.0 of the Contributor Terms will be allowed to "upgrade" to future versions. I am now happy to provide such a formal statement:

All the rights granted in the new proposed version are already granted in 1.0 so it is not essential to explicitly upgrade. However, the License Working Group clarifies that any contributor who has signed up to Contributor Terms 1.0 will be given the opportunity to voluntarily upgrade to the next revision and will be provided a mechanism to do so.   The LWG also believes that this should be a general principle for any future revision. 

Mike
Chair LWG


At 02:27 PM 15/11/2010, David Ellams wrote:
>Dear LWG
> 
>I am writing to request that the LWG make a statement to the effect that users who sign up to v1.0 of the Contributor Terms will be allowed to "upgrade" to future versions.
> 
>I have not yet accepted the Contributor Terms, although I am supportive of the aims of the licence change process. Previously, the main obstacle has been that I may wish to trace (or possibly even import) from some of the OS Opendata resources in the future. I am heartened to see the efforts being made to address any incompatibility between the CTs and OS Opendata. Although I have never yet made substantial use of OS Opendata, I have been holding off from accepting the CTs in fear that if I accept now I may not be able to "upgrade" to any possible future version which may address the incompatibilities (thus leaving me unable to make use of OS Opendata even if the new CTs are compatible). I have heard reference to that possibility in a couple of mailing list discussions, but I would be very grateful if the LWG could more formally express its intention to allow users who accept the current CTs to "upgrade" to any future CTs in a manner that supersedes the current CTs. I for one, will accept the CTs without hesitation once such a statement has been made (even though I accept that there is no guarantee that compatibility will be achieved in future versions of the CTs or even that there will be any future versions).
> 
>Finally, let me express my sincere thanks for your tremendous efforts in addressing the issues raised by the community in relation to the licence change. Keep up the good work!
> 
>Best wishes
> 
>David Ellams (user:davespod)